"Angelfish and Starlings"

On February 8th thousands of people will gather in Raleigh NC to protest voter suppression and other oppressive policies recently enacted by the NC legislature. NAACP president Rev. William Barber has called Raleigh the epicenter of a new assault on voting rights. The NAACP has called citizens to join "the largest moral rally in the South since Selma." The plea has been echoed by our UUA President Peter Morales and the UUA's "Standing on the Side of Love" campaign. Rev. Vanessa Southern, senior minister at the Summit UU congregation has helped organized a NJ contingent.

This event reminds me of UU delegations to Arizona and protests that galvanized the immigration reform movement. It also reminds me of our unmistakable presence in campaigns for the the human rights for lgbt persons during the past two decades. How is it that UUs manage to be in a place of prominence in many of the greatest liberal societal changes?

UU engagement in essential social justice struggles grows from our theology and our religious traditions. If you connect the dots between the movement to end the New Jim Crow, immigration reform and lgbt human rights, you will see us continuing Jesus' prophetic ministry, standing on the side of love and justice, advocating on behalf of the most discriminated and oppressed peoples. Our religious message is a call to build the beloved community. We proclaim the sacred within every person, and we seek to develop a consciousness of "world community."


Religion aims to shift perspective from the isolated individual toward an awareness of relationship to something much greater. The language and understanding of that "something greater" differs in each tradition or culture. One of the central ways that we promote our spirituality is through prophetic witness that calls for a world community with liberty and justice for all.


Everywhere, people cry out for justice. Our UU faith proclaims the power that is created when people unite in service of humanity. We seek to harness that power!
Speaking on the subject of numerous UULMN victories, Rev. Craig Hershberg, said: "We gives the appearance of a much larger body. Every time a call goes out (from UULMN) our members write letters, make phone calls and organize lobbying sessions." Unlike the common complaint that organizing UUs is like herding cats, our ability to rise up together for social justice seems to me more aptly compared to a school of angelfish or a flock of starlings. We move as one!

It's hard to describe what happens to UUs when they begin participating on the state, district national or global levels. I imagine it has something to do with gaining deep understanding that we are part of a beautiful and unmistakable force for liberation, spirituality and human dignity.

It will be an honor to represent LUUF n Raleigh. If you want to be part of that historic march, but plan to stay here in NJ, look on the SOSL website for ways to make your support felt.
Yours on the Sacred Journey-

All Our JUUwishness

All of us counts. All of the ways that we find to be who we are in this world, all of it counts. This was the message we received at the “Let Us Be Counted” Uus for Jewish Awareness Conference in Atlanta this weekend. It was a message that came home because of our experience of coming together.

UUJA President Rev. Leah Hart-Landsberg helped set the tone for our time together during opening worship. She referred to the “parsha” (torah portion) of the week that instructed ancient Hebrews how to build a sanctuary. “We will be building a sanctuary too,”she said. How right she was!

Personally I was gratified to see the influence that my alma mater, Thomas Starr King School for the Ministry had in the creation of this conference. Hart-Landsberg, and most of the planning team were SKSM graduates, and SKSM prof Dr. Ibrahim Farajaje' delivered the conference keynote address. (Thank you SKSM and President Rebecca Parker whose discretionary funds made that keynote possible.) Dr. Farajaje's presentation brought to the conference a precious aspect of Starr King culture. Beyond theology, I remember SK as a place that enriched its seminarians with an affirming sense of the sacredness of being. Learning how to bring this quality out in a community or congregational setting was a priceless aspect of preparation for ministry.

The quality of our gathering had many contributors. There was generous hosting of the UU Congretion of Atlanta (UUCA), Rev. Marti Keller, and the UUCA's L'Chaim group for Jewish Awareness. We enjoyed an abundance of Jewish music, the professional support of UUCA's Music director, Donald Milton III and performances by the combined choirs of UUCA and Bet Haverim. (BH is a Reconstructionist Congregation founded by lesbians and gays.)

Dr. Farajaje refered to the conference as a “Shabbaton,” a weekend retreat that focuses on a communal sharing of Shabbat. During the weekend, we shared the “mixities” of how we identify; the communities we belong to or hail from, and what continues to contributes to our journeys toward wholeness. We joined in the sharing of stories, prayers, poems, singing and music. We shared our selves, and were enriched by the sharing. It was an experience that affirmed who we are- beyond and through acquired identities. My partner from our havurah (study group), found the conference as “affirming not because there is a rule that exists among Uus that says we must accept each other, but because I experienced people here as being open, that they actually cared to find out who I am, and that they were willing to share with me something of who they are too.”

Sunday morning before the worship service, we sat and talked about what we had received. We said things like: “I know now that I am not alone.” “I thought being a UU Jew was something that I created.” “ I thought it was a figment of my imagination,” or “something that really wasn't supposed to exist, “ “Until now, I've hidden my love of being Jewishness out of fear of being perceived as cheating on my UU Church” “Many UUs seem to think that identifying as Jewish means that we're not really or fully UU. I'll never believe that again!” Each of us grew in awareness of the profound influence that Judaism, our relationship to Jewish people and cultures has had and continues to have on our living UU tradition. The ripples of our coming together, of our learning and our celebrating our JUUwishness will be felt throughout the UU world!

Coming out, Our Sacred Task

Starting up this new UU matters blog, I feel excitement wondering where it will lead. Not sermon, not article, what will it be? I'm fantasizing about throwing down all political posturing. I am feeling ecstasy imagining what it would be like to hear my own true voice sound out fully. Although ministry is about serving others, what I appreciate most about it is the fulfillment that comes when I'm being most like myself.

A good part of what we are doing as a religious people is encouraging people to “come out.” The term comes to us from gay liberation. One of the reasons why celebrating lgbtqui people coming out is that we recognized it as an affirmation and acceptance of nature, of who we are. We want this kind of coming out for all humans. We wish to promote the liberation of all souls. Intuitively we know this kind of acceptance to be a religious act.

It is by allowing our true selves to emerge, that we discover the divinity in our humanity. As UUS we are proclaiming that our inherent nature as humans is sacred, whole, lovable and awesome. Celebrating the act of coming out, (with a liberal application of this term) is perhaps our most identifiable UU way of illuminating a portal to a religious experience.

Personally, I know I still need to come out in many ways. I've been careful for too long. How can I preach the tradition of a faith where all souls are saved, if I'm not willing to live it? I must accept the divinity, inherent worth and dignity within myself and act accordingly!

Twenty-one years ago the UUA's ministerial fellowship committee denied my request to enter the search/ settlement process. It was only through grit (that I didn't know I had), that I inched and crawled and found a humble place in this ministry. I tried to be “soooo good.” I believed that I couldn't afford to get into any trouble, because any misstep could result in my getting deported as an undocumented worker in the field of UU Ministry. So I limited my risks. I bit my tongue, and I've eaten a lot of humble pie.

To a large extent I overcame my fear of being cast out, and chose to express my own true voice as a minister. I had to listen to the still small voice within me, and the voice of my own heart more than my fear of what I imagined might get me in trouble. And in truth, my heart still years for greater self expression.

I joined this faith tradition because I believed it would help me have full religious expression. Jesus ministry had touched my soul profoundly in a way that was unacceptable for a Jew. Because UUS affirmed Jesus as a man and because they revered his form of trouble making, I found a home.

Later in seminary, a line in a book confirmed the value of this. In “the Meaning and End of Religion,” Wilfred Cantwell Smith wrote “every man that is today considered religiously great, was at odds with the religion of his day.” I suspect that most UU's can appreciate this quote. It's no wonder we've struggled as the "un-church" or the "almost religion" for so long. Being a religion of people at odds with religion is quite a challenge.

It's a paradox, and a tight rope we walk. We have the courage to love the path of the ethical troublemaker. But in order to make more than just trouble, we must also realize that it's cooperation that makes evolution possible. We must love people, love our congregations, love our denomination, our human race, and life itself. We must care enough to be honest with one another.

In this blog, I intend to care enough to speak the truth in love. I intend to go where spirit leads me, to burst forth from my own private, careful little world. Where will it lead me? Will I be another UU gloating in the joy of complaining. Oh ecstasy, I have just complained about complaining! Will I point out how unbridled are our egos, and in doing so unbridle my own ego?

Echart Tolle says that “ego loves to make somebody wrong because it enables a sense of superiority. I wonder if transparency will expose ego's grip on me?

How can I live without analyzing and interpreting who is right and who is wrong? Isn't critical thinking our sacred cow? Is it our communion? If so, perhaps critically analyzing our “movement” is the UU communion of choice.

If I speak more openly about what I see, feel and need, what will become of me?! If I ease off internal censorship, and express what it's been like to be UU, will it expose me as a chronic complainer? I can also imagine inflating my ego while playing large a martyr script. I could demonstrate how noble I am to express the truth without regard for what it will do to my standing. If I can't be powerful, at least I can be right. Aint I UU?

We eschew martyrdom. We have contempt for martyrdom. We are part of a global marketplace media culture that obsesses on winning. Yet, not far beneath the surface of the fabric of our UU garment, run the strong strands of distrust and low expectations. We defensively choose smugness and cling to our assumed intellectual and educational superiority, in order to hide the fact that we expect mainstream culture to dismiss, reject or overlook us. Because we don't believe we could be powerful, we console ourselves with being right.

Wow! I am amazed to realize how this “shadow” side of me helps me fit right into the UU world. We bond in the shared experience of this delusion. It's delusion because we can be powerful, and we are not "the" right ones. All our preaching about about integrity, conscience and thinking for one's self will be useless unless we can actually demonstrate it in our lives.

Did I say that my blogs would bear no resemblance to my sermons? Shalom Y'all.